Never Too Old
by honu59
Summary: While working a case, Danny and Kono visit the University of Hawaii and are surprised when they see a familiar face. Written for the Coconut Wireless September writing challenge.


_**A.N.** \- I've been watching old episodes of "The Rifleman" lately, and seeing Hope Summers in her regular role on that show inspired this one shot epilogue to "The Bomber and Mrs. Moroney." This has not been beta read, so please excuse any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes. Enjoy!_

 **Never Too Old**

It had been three weeks since Marty Collins' dead body was removed from Steve McGarrett's private office and packed into the coroner's wagon. The carpenters had repaired the damage caused by the small explosion of the detonator that Dan Williams had pulled from Collins' chest and tossed into the corner at the last possible moment. The walls around the blast site now gleamed with the freshness of new paint. Chin Ho's eyes had healed; his vision was once again perfect and he had returned to work. Jenny no longer jumped every time the phone rang.

Glancing around his office and taking in the fine architectural detail of the room, Steve realized that he had a new appreciation for the grand Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil. The historic building very easily could have been reduced to rubble if it hadn't been for Chinough Olena's expert marksmanship and Dan Williams' cool head and nerves of steel.

 _Danno…_ Steve sobered at the thought that if the Palace had been lost, he would have also lost his entire team. He quickly banished that terrible thought from his mind and once again thanked the Lord that the worst hadn't happened while he had been away in Chicago. _Now back to normal; business as usual._

As if on cue, the polished koa wood door opened and Chin, Danny and Kono filed into the room for the morning staff meeting. After the men exchanged pleasantries, Steve approached his portable chalkboard and began listing on it tasks for their current assignment: providing security for an upcoming meeting of foreign scientists which would take place at the University of Hawaii.

"Chin, get in touch with Chief Dann at HPD, see what they have scheduled next week for normal patrols around the campus," Steve began while checking off the first item.

"Done, Boss," the Chinese detective replied.

"Danno, Kono, I want you to go over and speak with Professor Akiyama. Get his take on how controversial this meeting might be, how many people he expects and if he's anticipating any trouble." Steve checked off the second item. "I'll deal with the university's security measures myself."

o-o-o

As Dan steered the Ford LTD into the main entrance of the Manoa campus, he was forced to slow down and stop before ever getting close to the science building. A large group of students was blocking the road; they were carrying placards and chanting anti-war slogans. Dan turned to his Hawaiian colleague seated next to him and simply said, "Another one."

"Yeah," replied Kono.

Like in the rest of the country, demonstrations against the Vietnam war were commonplace on this local college campus.

"I guess we walk," Dan said matter-of-factly, and he pulled the large black Ford into the last available visitor's parking place by the entry.

The two detectives exited the car and headed through the protesters in the direction of the science building. The Five-O officers were a stark contrast from the majority present. Clean shaven, dressed in conservative business suits and sporting short, neat haircuts, the general appearance of the two men making their way through the crowd silently screamed 'establishment.'

They were about half way through the crowd of protesters when Danny stopped short, causing Kono to bump into him, almost knocking him down. "What?" Kono asked, but then he spotted the reason why his shorter colleague stood there, at a loss for words.

There in the middle of the assembly, stood none other than Mrs. Minnie Leona Moroney! She was wearing navy blue pedal pushers, white sneakers and a tie-dyed tee shirt. Hoisted over her right shoulder was a hand painted sign that read 'Make Love, Not War.'

"Mrs. Moroney!" Dan called out to the seventy-something lady while waving to get her attention.

"Oh, Mr. Williams, hello!" Mrs. Moroney called back while she wove her way through the students to get close enough to have a conversation. "Mr. Williams, Mr. Kalakaua, it's so good to see you again!"

"What are you doing, I mean, why…" Danny stammered, unable to narrow all his questions down to anything that made sense.

"Surprised, gentlemen?" Mrs. Moroney asked with a confident smile on her face.

"I'll say we're surprised, ma'am," Kono replied while Danny regained his composure. "Ain't you a little…uh…mature for dis activity?"

"Well, like the young people, I'm here exercising my constitutional right of free speech," the woman explained as she lowered her placard to the ground. "You know, after going through that awful ordeal in your office with that unfortunate young man, I've been thinking that there's far too much violence in the world and I want to do something about it!"

"So I guess that you decided to stay in Hawaii after all," Danny commented.

"That's right, Mr. Williams. I'm not ready for an old folks' home and I told my children as much. I've got a lot more living to do and I'm not going to waste my time sitting around and knitting!"

Mrs. Moroney had the same determination in her voice Danny had heard that fateful afternoon when she was speaking her mind to Marty Collins. Dan shuddered at the memory. The lady had guts, but she very well could have gotten them killed. He forced that image from his head his smile returned.

"Well, just be careful. I wouldn't want to see your name on tomorrow morning's police blotter," Danny said half seriously, half in jest.

"Certainly not. I'll behave myself. You two take care as well."

Mrs. Moroney picked up her sign and wandered off to join the rest of the university students.

"We better go find Professor Akiyama," Kono said. Then he noticed that Dan was still staring off into space. "Danny? Whatcha thinking about?"

"Oh," Dan answered, smiling poignantly. "I was just thinking about my Aunt Clara. She's always busy, traveling all over the place with her acting troupe and I'm always after her to slow down. Maybe she's just making the most of her life, like Mrs. Moroney."

"Maybe so," Kono agreed.

"Next time she calls, I'm going to remember that," Danny promised. "Let's go."

And the two detectives continued on toward the science building.

 **Pau**


End file.
